don't tell. >> i like seeing the lakes. i love the lakes. >> i was a severely conservative republican governor. >> and he killed himself a baby when he was only 3. >> maybe i should just do all the talking. >> our dna is the same as other human beings on the planet. it is not just our brain power. we're about the same size. we're much better but that doesn't count for -- >> we begin with decision 2012. and we now have a fight from missouri to michigan, north carolina to ohio. this week has seen the president and mitt romney fully engaged in the general election battle. with enough polls to create, well, a random sample bonanza. >> a couple new polls. >> they new polls came out. >> our new cnn poll finds a 56% of americans have a favorable

view of president obama. >> a quinnipiac poll out today shows the president up 4 points on mitt romney. >> romney romney wins, beats barack obama in two of the three. >> a new gallup daily poll shows him holding a slim edge over the president. >> both get 46% support. >> despite the see-sawing polls, it is the favorable issue. a brand new "wall street journal" poll showing romney at a 15 point favorability deficit. of the candidates and their wives, he is the only one underwater with higher negatives than positives. and one need look no further than mitt romney's recent roundtable picnic and the outrage being labeled cookie gate to see why. >> i'm not sure about these cookies. they don't look like you made them. did you make them? no, no. they came from the loco over. >> bakery. >> the 7-eleven bakery or

wherever. >> it is the first thing he sits down at the table. he would rather die of starvation than eat these horrible insults to gastronomy. never mine they come from beloved landmark bakery, now running a cookiegate special. buy a dozen, get a half dozen free. we know this isn't with cookies, but the problem is even if he could make a possibly convincing panda, the voters just don't believe him. according to the new york times poll, 62% say romney just says what people want to hear. only 27% say he says what he believes. indeed, the only time mitt seems authentic is when he is defensive. in particular about his family's money. as evidenced by his response to president obama's remark that he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth. >> i'm not going to apologize for my dad's successful but i know the president likes to

attack fellow americans. he is always looking for a scape goat, particularly those that have been successful like my dad. and i'm not going to rise to that. if i'm president, i will stop the attack on fellow americans. i'll stop the attack on people. >> i will end the attacks on people. that's a campaign promise. take note. let's bring in our political panel now here in new york. msnbc contributor, a senior writer for the salon.com. and joining us, david corn and the author of the new york times best seller, showdown. mitt romney's overreaction on cookies though seemingly unimportant is quite revealing. first a man with personal assets in excess of $200 million is probably more used to caviar than cookies. but second, he does seem to struggle as he tries to think of a local store where they might have been bought. again, mitt romney knows as much about 7-eleven stores as i guess

you do about carried interest and swiss bank accounts. >> hey, don't underestimate me. >> i don't. i'm just surmising. >> listen, i think he got off easy. he probably was thinking, hey, let them eat cake. he did not say it. it could have been so much worse. when you're a politician, whether you're campaigning for the school board, for a local city council or president of the united states. you never insult the food that is put in front of you. you just never do it. everything is delicious. look at these delicious cookies. thank you for having me today. would you like to talk about my proposals for medicare? this guy just can't get anything kind of right when it comes to these engagements with real people. whether it is the story with the dog on the roof, the cookies on the plate, the size of the trees. this is one reason people dope like hill. he just seems kind of odd and out of touch and doesn't act in

a normal fashion. the that i go question if that unlikability will turn people off to listening to him make a case. no matter what you think of me, i still can run the economy better than barack obama. >> yeah, right. just to that point, if i said something critical about my wife's cooking, i would be beaten up. it seem like americans don't like the economy because things are sluggish but they dough like mitt romney either. our poll has him with a whopping 33% favorability rating to the president's 48. how much more of a problem is mitt romney to mitt romney's campaign? >> the thing this is pretty indicated on. the economy is bad enough that people will vote for the alternative. it doesn't mat here the alternative is. they will want to vote out the guy in office. generally there's some pretty solid political science that supports that as a general rule. if things are bad enough, they'll throw the incouple benlt out. there is a role here for what

people think of the challenger. is he too extreme ideologically? there is some concern with romney because he has this base. you look at the poll numbers. the party base, starting to support him. not enthusiastically. he is going to have to worry about them this summer. worry about them with his vice presidential pick. worry about them any time he thinks about moving to the middle. you have that concern and then the personality concern on top of that. you have the basic sense right now that the predominance, there is no core there. no spine there. people just don't know who he is. >> also, there is this issue of people not believing what he says. now today, the romney campaign hung a banner saying, obama isn't working. at a gypsum plant that was actually closed under george bush. now, once again, mr. romney, he doesn't concern himself with the truth when he is trying to attack the president. he sticks up a banner over a place that was closed under bush. >> i mean, rachel has been doing great on her show, putting one romney lie after another. would you mind only referring to my show when you're

on it? i have a sensitive ego. come on. >> you've dawn good job, too. at some point all politicians fiddle with the truthful it comes with the territory. a some of the point, you do it so much. romney has to be careful. everyone knows, the one thing people know about him is that he is a flip-flopper which is different than a liar. now you're fiddling with the truth and you do it again and again. if you do it between now and november a million times, people might say, i don't know if i can trust that guy. and then everything goes out the window. if they don't trust you, it doesn't matter if they like you or not themselves don't trust you. they're not voting for you as president. >> to your point, he went on and on about the 93% women losing their jobs under the president, of course, ignoredhe fact of what happened during the bush presidency. any way, let's not worry about the facts. steve, romney's event today, he went after the president with a jab on the subject of golf. take a listen. >> i can tell you, i will use

every ounce of my energy not to improve my golf handicap but instead, but instead to go to work to help the american people go to work. >> isn't this brilliant by romney? he knows that he is perceived as a member of the elite so therefore he blames the president for spending all his time playing golf. >> the other thing, as is often the case with mitt romney, there is another side to this talking point that is sort of contradicting what he is saying. romney, his father, who ran for president who was governor of michigan for eight years was one of thell time golf enthusiast politicians in this country. somebody did an estimate based on the time that george romney, mitt romney's father spend that he spent several thousand rounds of golf during his eight years as governor, mitt romney by his side for some of these. his father was something called speed golf. so mitt romney learned firsthand growing up that it is possible to balance governing with

golfing. >> even worse, he talks about riding dressage horses and the types of horses that he rides when he is talking to sean hannity off camera. so this guy doesn't eschew the more well to do. he he goes to the question of authenticity. where the people will come to believe as some of us do that he will say literally anything about anything. and once he has lost people in that, he is not getting them back. i think the effect is that he has lost a lot of people which is why independents and women view him so poorly now. there are a lot of voters out there who he has yet to lose and he is working very hard to make that happen. >> thank you both for joining us. stay with us. much more ahead. >> yeah, i live for laughter.

>> the edge goes to romney because he lives for laughter. unless there is a piece of video somewhere, improbable of him saying the exact opposite of that on the subject of his own comedic skills. roll the videotape. >> i'm rarely funny on purpose. we'll see what happens. >> i love you. [ male announcer ] if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze... [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] you may be an allergy muddler. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. zyrtec®. love the air. [ sneezes ]

we've heard much ado about the value of work perform by mothers in the home. did you know that under the law, raising children doesn't count as the work activity that must be performed by recipients of temporary assistant to needy families. here's mitt romney in january

explaining why. >> i also like the idea that people who are receiving assistance, welfare assistance, have a responsibility of working. i wanted to increase the work requirement. i said, for instance, even if you have a child 2 years of age, you need to go to work. and people said, that's heartless. and i said no, no, i'm willing to spend more giving daycare to allow those parents to go back to work. it will cost the state more providing that daycare but i want the individuals to have the dignity of work. >> well, now, a group of house democrats are looking to give mothers on public assistance the dignity of staying home to raise their children. it is the work act. women's option to raise kids. allowing mothers with small children to stay home and continue receiving benefits. and congresswoman jan joins us now to talk about it. the romney bluff over hilary

rosen's comments. she saw this as a political tint and a birthday gift. if they really believe in supporting mothers who boring in the home, why won't mitt romney offer his support for this bill you yourself have co-sponsored? >> i hope that he now does have what sounds like a more evolved position on work which is that all moms work. inside and outside the home. he can prove that by supporting legislation, and marine, these moms could only stay home until their children are 4 years old. and then they would have to meet the work requirements that mitt romney thinks are so important. and go out and find a job. that's not so easy, as you well know. there aren't a lot of jobs and he talks about childcare. it is not so easy to find great childcare. did you know that you have to bring diapers to most childcare centers.

and any poor woman who is really struggling knows, it is really expensive to do that. you can't even use your food stamps to buy diapers. so the barriers for poor women who are raising children are just enormous. but at least we ought to dignify their work as moms by letting them stay home until their kids are 4 years old. >> we know that mitt romney has more positions than a six-headed monkey god. one minute he's telling poor parents that he doesn't want them to stay at home because they need the dignity of work. the next minute he is saying his wife did a wonderful thing in staying at home and nurturing their five children. isn't the reality of this situation that having vast amounts of money is the only way parents can have an option about whether they can stay at home. the fact of the matter is, this is an economic problem for most families. they have no choice because they need to work. >> well, that's absolutely true. i really don't know of any young

couples that get married today, middle class couples, even thoes doing fairly well who even consider the idea of one of them staying home to raise the children. it is very, very difficult, particularly if you want to save, if you want to buy a home, if you want to pay of on your student loans. so it really is a luxury these days for mom to be able to stay home and raise the kids. but if you're lower income, it is, it is just virtually impossible right now not to look for some outside income. >> now, perhaps predictably, your house colleague, congresswoman michele bachmann was outraged about comments saying that stay at home moms don't work. take a listen to what she said on "meet the press." >> insulting women who make the choices to stay at home and care for their children. i think we need to lift up women that take on the most difficult job in the world.

>> she wants to lift up women. do you think she's going to reach across the aisle and support this bill? >> well, it's not only this piece of legislation. michele bachmann has already voted for legislation that would cut, yesterday it was $33 billion from the snap program. that's the food stamp program. half of the people on the snap program are children or people with disabilities or seniors. the wick program, the women, infant and children program, has been on the chopping block by the republicans. so michele bachmann has already made it more difficult, as all the republicans have if they've supported the ryan republican budget and many of the cuts. made it more difficult for working women who are struggling so hard to make it and take care of their children. >> thank you. and thank you particularly for telling us that women can't

spend money from their food stamps on diapers. we did not know that and that is a disturbing and very sad fact. thank you. >> coming up, vast left wing conspiracy? come on, mitt. appear here. we've got some true believers here, you know. >> how does a man who wants to be president, how does he think he can fix that? mitt romney joins us now from charlotte, north carolina. good morning to you. >> joining me now tonight from if campaign trail, republican presidential candidate, mitt romney. governor, welcome back. thanks for being here. >> thanks, good to be with you again. auto-bliss.

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this afternoon. this after three agencies cut ties with the embattled agency. one retiring, two resigning. that leaves eight employees still on administrative leave. there have been some calls for the resignation of the secret service director, mark sullivan, though many on capitol hill expect him to survive the scrutiny. particularly given his promotion to the post by one george bush. still, some sense the political opportunity. alabama senator jeff sessions attempted on draw a straight line from the prostitution scandal. quote, that sounds very much like a lawmaker attempting to politicize something that is not at all political. meantime, homeland security chair peter king has confirmed that possible drug use will be part of the investigation. that drug testing is underway. and that agent blackberries have been confiscated. in perhaps the most dishonorable

disclosure to date, the new york time interviews a woman who described herself as the escort at the center of the scandal. she says that all was going well until it came time to pay. she says they've negotiated a rate of $800 but the agent decided he only wanted to pay 30. that's how the trouble started. now, given that prostitution is legal in that part of colombia, the battle over $770 has now cost three agents their jobs and the entire agency its reputation. but proving that every cloud has a silver lining, spirit airlines has taken the scandal and converted it into a marketing opportunity entitled the more bang for your buck promotion. with certain flights to colombia for less than $30. only condition, you have to pay up front. stay with us. today's top lines are coming up. >> i'll assure you one thing. if i decide to run for the

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silver spoons, a cookie monster, here are the top lines. no more mr. nice guy. >> i wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. >> i'm certainly not going to apologize for my dad and his success in life. he was born poor. i know the president likes to attack fellow americans. >> they know the government has to be lean and green. >> i hate hearing this from mitt romney. he has to get this talking point out of his mouth. >> even if you like barack

obama, we cannot afford barack obama. >> last thing we can afford to do. to go back to the very same policy that's got us into this mess. >> i decide to run for the presidency in 2016, i'll be in way before the summer of 2016. 2015 even. >> are you ready to run as his vice presidential running mate? >> that is not going to happen. >> who is romney's perfect match. >> the perfect ticket, romney/romney shadow 2012. >> i don't think the motor city madman has any ill will toward the president of the united states. >> do you think that's funny? i'm serious as a heart attack. >> i live for laughter. >> the edge goes to romney unless there's a piece of video somewhere saying the opposite. >> i'm rarely funny on purpose. >> i'm not sure about these cookies. >> they are the yummiest cookies i've ever had. >> they came from the local 7-eleven bakery or wherever.

>> hey, guys. big gulp, huh? >> he wants to talk about dogs. you put the dog kennel on top of the car. they want to talk about dogs in this campaign. do you want to deal with the dog story? he admitted eating dog. >> i'm here to talk about jobs and the economy. extraneous stories -- >> let's get right to our panel this afternoon. here in new york, msnbc contributor, and the mg editor of the grio.com, and marcia dyson. and in washington, ken vogel, chief investigative correspondent for politico. welcome. joe-ann, mitt romney this week admitted that he believes in a vast left wing conspiracy. but there you have sean hannity repeatedly baiting him to bite on the dog story. so that sounds to me like there's more like a right wing conspiracy than a left wing conspiracy. >> and i think that anybody who

spent any time following the politics of the left or engaging in it understands the left isn't organized to put together a conspiracy. the left is defined by being unable to define themselves into a conspiracy. what i do see, and i think it is unfortunate, almost a down of our very kind of basic civilization here. where you don't even have a decent respect for the president of the united states, that these things are out of bounds. i don't think there's anything out of bounds, unfortunately, for those on the far right. it is main stream conservative television personalities. there is almost nothing they won't say about this president and i think it is unfortunate. >> no matter how i feel about the person in office, i obviously have respect for the office of the presidency. i can remember a well known host of a television show who said something about a form he president whose father was a former president. my god, you can say what you want about the policies or his administration. but the office itself must be upheld. if not, why do we have democracy and why do we have laws in order

for us to be better citizens? why should we act good if our leaders are not well? i think it is insane. >> now mitt romney may not have fallen into sean hannity's trap. just moments ago, senator mccain appears to have done, tweeting a photo of his son's bulldog with the line, i'm sorry, mr. president, he's not on the menu. what do you think of that? i have to confess, ken, i'm just deeply disappointed in senator mccain for saying that. >> well, you know, both sides of this story. the doggate, if you will, are a little ludicrous if you think about it. mitt romney, whether it says something about him or his character that he and his family strapped on to the roof of their car a crate that held their dog a long trip. i mean, is that really central to the question of whether he would be a good commander-in-chief or even revelatory about his character? no. nor on the other hand, is

whatever culinary habits were common when president obama spent some time in indonesia as a child. and even if that did speak to it, he was a kid at the time. so this is really in my mine, much ado about nothing and it does get back to what joe-ann was saying about the degradation of the political recourse. that these things can become issues says a lot about both sides. both sides feed into it as did senator mccain right there. >> that was an unfortunate pun. >> we've been quoting ted nugent's statements this week in which he says, he calls the president excrement. he refers to hillary clinton by a foul and offensive word as well. he now has the support of representative allen west. who says that he means no ill will. allen west who believes that there are something like 78 to 81 communists in the democrat caucus within the house of

representatives. sarah palin said the president pals around with terrorists. it is beginning to look like mitt romney pals around with lunatics. >> absolutely. in respect to the 81 votes that romney won't get. as far as sarah palin, i think she misspoke. she didn't mean he pals around with terrorists. i think she meant republicans. he is trying to reach across to get people who are terrorizing american citizens. i think she misspoke on that. i like to think of her better than that. >> we understand that ted nugent's meeting with the secret service has just concluded. he talked about it almost as if it was a joke saying, you know, he loves these guys. they'll have a barbecue, whatever. but there is something profoundly offensive about what he was saying, he talked about decapitating the president. he said when candidate obama was running, that the president should suck on his gun. >> and he said he would be dead

or in jail next year if barack obama is elected. probably the reason he is jovial, wlaengs some people don't know. when he had the actual opportunity to use his gun and be a tough guy in vietnam, he demurred and found creative ways not to go to vietnam and be a tough guy. so he is probably not as lethal as he would like you to believe. maybe only dangerous to rock 'n' roll. >> we don't want to hear the reasons he opted out. our thanks to all of you. stay with us. much more ahead. >> we're a trusting people. we're a hopeful people. but we're not done. and we won't fall for the same lines from the same person just because it is in a different place. >> do we have any members of our veterans or armed services here? thank you. and be recognized. do we have any veterans or members of the armed services here? please raise your has not. do we have any veterans or members of our armed forces here, please raise your hand.

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let's take a look. right now, we're at the dow jones which is down in the neighborhood, there we go. about 81 points. the s&p down about 9. the nasdaq down just under 23 points. and more from martin bashir after these messages. [ male announcer ] when mariel zagunis first took up fencing, the u.s. hadn't won gold in over 100 years. but thanks to them... and her... and especially this guy, all those years were just a prologue to this. ♪ it's amazing how far you can go with a little help along the way.

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i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today. although house republicans celebrated the report of the catholic church over the recent controversy over contraception and health care reform, the u.s. conference of catholic bishops has now chastised the gop. in a letter to the house agriculture committee, they say

the republicans plan to cut billions of dollars from hunger and nutrition programs must consider the moral implications. quote, a central moral measure of any budget proposal is how it affects the least of these. quoting the gospel of matthew, chamt 5. the letter continues, the house passed budget resolution fails to meet these moral criteria. joining us now, john larson, democratic congressman of connecticut. good afternoon, sir. >> good afternoon. glad to be with you. >> you took to the house floor wednesday to talk about these cuts, invoguing fdr where he talked about choices based on values. there are some who are saying that christian teaching does not encourage governments to take responsibility for the poor. that instead should be in the hands of the individual. do you agree? >> well, of course not. of course, we all remember that jesus famously said, render unto caesar what is caesar's and unto

the lord, what is the lord's. but whether it is the sermon on the mound or matthew, as you just describe, he certainly demonstrated the need for to us care to the least amongst us. the least amongst us, when we're talking about this, amounts to 400% of poverty. and so frankly, this is the middle class as well as the least amongst us that have been beenic, impacted here. >> i'm a little bit confused. last month, republicans used the church to attack the president saying he was riding rough shod over christian conscience. now when the church challenges republicans, they simply ignore the bishops. >> right, they say never mind. well, it is double standards here in washington happen quite frequently, or as my good friend paul begala says, false

equivalence. that's what i think is getting through to the arican public though, martin. and i commend the bishops for their statement. and certainly, i think america is in tune with. this especially recovering from the worst recession since the great depression and so many amongst us who are hurting and suffering. and to add that extra pain to it. what roosevelt said is they seem to be frozen in the ice of their own indifference toward what they do to their fellow americans. >> a shocking statement. paul ryan was asked about the letter on fox news this morning. and after trying to side step the issue, his response was, quote, are these not all the catholic bishops? so i guess that means mr. ryan will take the church when it agrees with him and ignore the church when it doesn't. >> well, i think you're absolutely right. certainly, the bishops have respond and said, yes. this is what all the bishops

feel. and they do speak for the catholic church. let's be clear. i have certainly disagreed with the bishops on more than one occasion. but not without profound respect for their adherence to cannon law. in this instance, their adherence to the very least amongst us in sure that they're doing the right thing on behalf of all those we're sworn to serve and they are as well. >> on that specific point, the bishop's letter says the federal hunger program that is being threatened currently helps millions of households. 76% of which include a child, a senior, or a disabled person. now, these are people who can't just be told to go and get a job. these are people who need assistance. aren't they? >> you're exactly right, martin. and that's what makes the bishop's message so compelling. and we hope that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle

hear this. and we think that this is the kind of message that will resonate, not only in the halls of congress but from the pulpits in our churches all across this nation. it is not just a matter of catholicism. i think this is a matter of just humanity in terms of our approach to what we do for our fellow citizens in this very difficult time. and therefore, i underscore how much the catholic bishop should be credited for their statement. >> congressman john larson from connecticut. thank you for joining us. >> you're welcome. >> now from the legislative branch to the executive and according to many historians, it is the bush-cheney regime, not the president as he recently asserted. having led this country into an unnecessary war in iraq, the outright torture of prisoners and the unprecedented wiretapping of millions of american citizens.

unlike richard nixon and his lies, neither president bush nor his vice president cheney have ever been held accountable for theirs. however, a new book called "cheating justice" says the evidence exists and it is not too late to bring both to stand up for their actions. i'm pleased to say the book's author joins us now. welcome. >> thank you. great to be here. >> now, being the worst president and vice president in history isn't necessarily a crime but which specific laws do you believe they broke? >> well, as a former prosecutor and as a former member of the house judiciary committee during watergate, i spend a lot of time taking a look at the statutes. i saw big abuses of power. that's one thing to abuse power and one thing not to do the right thing. it is another thing it appears

these criminal statutes may well have been violated by president bush and vice president cheney. >> you're talking about them deliberately -- and knowingly. it is called conspiracy to defraud the united states. that does not, that would entail the deceptions that were involved in going to war in iraq. the second statute has to do with wiretapping. i voted for it in 1978. as a result of watergate and president doongs wiretapping abuses and abuses, the president said that the president cannot

on his own engage in wiretapping. there had to be a court that you went and made an application to. to violate that statute is a crime. a felony. a federal felony. he authorized wiretapping without getting a court order. on the face of it. nothing has happened. i'm talking about u.s. criminal code. standard operating procedure. there's a statute that says it is a federal crime to engage in torture or to authorize torture abroad. it is not a factual dispute that he authorized the waterboarding of various and enhanced

techniques of various people. vice president cheney has admitted that as well. no factual dispute. >> i'm persuaded by the content of your book. final question. is there any likelihood that these people will be held to account? is there any appetite to bring former president bush before a court? >> what we can't afford to do is allow the president to say that he is above the law or a vice president. it allows prosperity to happen. i know most americans are distracted with the economy and really upset about having a job and anxious. but they've got to be concerned about our democracy. and if it doesn't happen now, it will happen at some point. america is too great a country to ever say a president is above the law. >> congresswoman, former congresswoman, elizabeth, thank you. [ male announcer ] this is lois.

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it's time now to clear the air. we brought you a spirited discussion about mitt romney's mormon faith and one woman's view that it is a cult. today we want to focus on what mormonism says about lying and the reason is quite simple. mr. romney seems to be having trouble telling the truth. in fact, yesterday he offered a hat trick of falsehoods. first, his campaign claimed that was ted nugent who sought out the romney camp to offer his support, but we spoke to a reporter who interviewed nugent on the subject. >> mr. romney called ted nugent and asked for his endorsement,

yes? is. >> yes. that's exactly how nugent portrayed it on the day he gave the endorsement. >> so someone is lying, and mitt the mendacious went along with it. then mitt said there is a vast conspiracy set out to undermine his campaign presumably run by some hidden hand in the media. this after he spent the whole day a on right wing radio on fox news and all the while refusing a three-year standing invitation to appear on "meet the press" or any other broadcast that might actually ask him a challenging question. the truth is there's no left wing conspiracy and he knows it. the third lie yesterday appears to be his all time favorite. this is his utterly false claim that the president promised to keep unemployment below a certain level. >> he said if we let him borrow $787 billion, he would hold

unemployment below 8%. >> now mitt the mendacious knows full well that the president never, ever said such a thing. in fact, that figure of 8% was a speculative projection written by two analysts who had limited access to data and well before the president was even inaugerated. but much more to the point, it is something that the president has never written nor said. but that doesn't -- it doesn't matter how many times he hears the truth, mitt romney prefers to tell lies. which brings us to the moral codes of mormonism that mr. romney claims to live by. in section 63 in verse 17 of the doctrine and covenants of the mormon church, we find this. all liars, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, and the whoremonger and the sorcerer,

shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death. and we find this in the book of mormon. wo unto the liar for he shall be thrust down to hell. given what the book of mormon is clearly saying, mitt romney has but two choices. he can continue lying and potentially win the white house but bring eternal damnation upon himself, or he can start telling the truth. the question for him, i guess, is which is more important? thanks so much for waching. it's dylan ratigan's birthday today so he's off, but we have someone filling in. welcome to the dylan ratigan show. >> thank